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Sunday Morning Sidewalk #25

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Spoilers

“I Got It”

“Home”

Win or Lose’s final two episodes were the Sunday Morning Sidewalk this week and these episodes wrapped up the season long storyline.

Episode seven featured Kai and her overbearing dad who pushes her hard. Kai and her dad James moved into the neighborhood a year before and the softball team helped Kai become part of the community. She was really great at baseball, but the atmosphere of the Pickles made Kai want to play softball. James jumped in with both feet.

We see the drive of her father show itself in Kai as she was pushing herself to get better and wound up hurting her ankle, though she never told anyone she was hurt.

The episode ended with the championship game, getting a little further than we did last week. We see Kai at the plate after Laurie got hit by the pitch and Kai hit a big shot into the outfield, only to see that injured ankle become a problem again.

The final episode had to bring everything together that has been happening all year long and it does so really well. We focus in on Coach Dan for this episode and his own problems. Living out of his car, he spent his time at the field, grooming it for game time. There was a lot here that I could relate to as a former coach myself. As Coach Dan was watering the field, I remembered days doing the exact same thing.

Kai’s big hit split the outfield and Kai ran the bases, behind Laurie, who clearly had not done that before. Laurie scores to tie the game but Kai ends up in a run down and gets called out at home by Frank.

This set off a massive chaotic event as the crowd went wild, Coach Dan loses his temper and gets accidentally knocked into Frank the umpire. Frank throws Dan out of the game, which only caused Dan to lose it more. Dan was feeling the pressure of the parents who want to replace Dan with James next season.

Then we get:

  • Laurie trying to help calm her father down (with a remarkable imagery/metaphor)
  • Ira stops the Bleacher Creatures from stealing the cash box from the concessions. He does that by grabbing it and running away.
  • It was actually Ira’s calling for help that caused Taylor to leave the game, not the trouble with Yuwen
  • Rochelle and Vanessa finally got to the game in the middle of the chaos and jumped in to help.
  • Vanessa and Frank bond after Frank saved Vanessa’s baby from choking.
  • Taylor prevents the Bleacher Creatures from getting Ira and they return the cash box.
  • James found Kai, who was hiding after the play at home and they talk through their troubles.

After the baby was saved, this got back to reality and the chaos left the park. Dan had calmed down and apologized to Frank. Taylor, Kai and Yuwen all made up. The game moved on into extra innings.

After this we see a Pickles pizza party celebrating the end of the season. We do not know what the result of the championship game was and no one mentioned it again.

The show ended with Laurie telling her dad that she did not want to play softball any more.

This was such a wonderful show with so much heart. It gave us a ton of human emotion, wrapped within the concept of a softball game. The imagery of the show really spoke to me and the way certain emotions were displayed was remarkably creative.

This is truly some Pixar magic in a series where I did not expect that magic to be.

This ends Win or Lose for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. Next week, we start the two episode documentary series called Kisstory, about the band Kiss. It is two episodes, both about an hour and a half long. It can be found on Hulu or Disney +.

Wrestlemania 41 Weekend: Hall of Fame

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The Hall of Fame ceremony was scheduled this year in Las Vegas and they were having it a couple of hours later than Smackdown. That meant it was going to start on Peacock at midnight, my time. I know how long the Hall of Fame ceremony can run, so I decided that I would watch this Saturday morning instead.

I am aware how some people online view the WWE Hall of Fame. They consider it a joke, lacking credibility. There is no brick and mortar Hall of Fame (which I wish they would have) and, for years, only one person admitted the inductees. Are there performers that I believe should have been inducted years ago? Of course (Demolition, Miss Elizabeth, Bam Bam Bigelow etc.) To all that criticism, I say that you can see the emotion in the wrestlers’ faces, eyes, tears… and it is clear that this honor means something to them. As far as I am concerned, that makes this an important event.

This year, the inductees included Triple H, Lex Lugar, Michelle McCool, and The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon). Then, they inducted Ivan Koloff, Dory Funk Sr. and Kamala in the Legends wing.

It was kind of funny how long Triple H’s speech was. I’m sure he’ll catch some criticism online for that, but he was clearly emotional and grateful for his induction.

Best induction of the night: Easily Shawn Michaels, who was emotional, funny, and was given more time than some of the others. Shout out to CM Punk who inducted the Austin-Hart Wrestlemania 13 match. He did not have much time, but he was able to present the match with a lot of sincerity. You truly believed that Punk loved this match.

Best Speech of the night: Triple H’s was great, but I am giving it to Michelle McCool. She was really solid and thanked plenty of people during the time she was allotted.

Lookie there: I spotted Zack Ryder in the crowd! Of course Zack Ryder, real name Matt Cardona, is married to Chelsea Green, who is a current performer and would be required to be there.

Awkward Moment of the Night: Triple H thanked Vince, calling it “complicated.” You think?

Best Joke: Triple H said about how long he was talking said he was sure Shawn was fuming backstage because he had a call time for NXT Stand and Deliver in 15 minutes.

Ugh: Linda McMahon. Nuff said.

Jack the Football Player

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 Jack the Football Player

Football

I was playing football with my little brother at 5 years old. He was about 3 years old 2 years passed. He is now 5 years old and is fast but I’m still faster than him.

Another 2 years pass by. He is 7 now and faster than me but I’m better at catching and tackling than him. I can still score more too. 

Five years go by, I’m 14 and he is 12 years old. I got accepted to the New York high school football team. I already made friends with all of the team. My little brother got accepted to the New York middle school football team.

“Practice” wake up you got football practice today come on get up i made breakfast. For you your favorite pancakes and syrup and extra butter just the way you like. So get up, your coffee is going to be cold.

I wake up to the heavenly smell of pancakes and just the way I like them extra butter and syrup and sausages so I must be in heaven.

I see that my little brother is awake, he is almost done eating and ready to go to football practice. “I see that you’re awake” he said then said good morning buddy and good morning to momthey said good morning back. 

Get your guy’s stuff ready we are about to leave “mom said” 

So we got our stuff ready for practice and on the way we got some energy drinks. At practice the coach made us do our normal drills like run around the football field, then practice catching and throwing the ball,tackling,push ups and then we went to the gym. Once we were done at the gym we went and did 1v1s to warm up the 2v2s then 3v3s and then on and on. After practice we went outside and did four more after the Four Mile Run we ate and then went home the next day. The football game we had a football game today and when as soon as we got into the match we shook hands at the opponent team trying As humble as we can More to the middle of the game we start to get hit with big bangs the opponent teams we already got one person out sit on the bench so we start to actually show  we show them why we why we are the best football team in the state of Texas. End game ended 63 to 43. We  won by 20 points. We shook hands at the end of the game and walked off on the activity bus. We all were very excited and tired . At night it’s 3:00 a.m. In the morning when I get home I’m tired and can’t feel anything in my body. As soon as I get to my bed I stay home and fall on to my bed. The next day I wake up again I’m on the floor because I fell off my bed at in the middle of the night it woke me up I go downstairs to eat breakfast my little brother is up today is his game day so we start to leave to go to his practice when we get to his practice he sees his coach and all his friends he gets his gear on and runs to coach We’re on the bleachers watching them as he practices getting ready for his game. It’s noon at Night the game is going to be set up. Everyone is doing up in the parking lot getting ready, getting in the spots looking for the kids and friends. The game I started the oil shaking each other’s hands the middle of the game the score is 20 to 16 with losing by four points I need to step out game up everyone is shouting from the beaches come on pass the ball come on you got it and of the game we won by two points coach’s happy he’s surprises  us with a pizza party. Everyone was happy . We went home. We had a party of Our Own we celebrated with ice cream and pizza and root beer shakes. We all were very happy for him to win his first game.

Mad Muck

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Mud Muck

      By: Barry Dingle

One day Stevan and his best friend Moxxie had seen a flyer saying that a soccer team needed more players. They decided to call the number to join the team. The coach answered and warned the boys that if they were to “join the team now they would play a game the very next day”. The two boys thought about it for a minute and decided they would be okay with a game tomorrow and told the coach that they were in. The coach told the boys to come to the high school gym. When they arrived they saw the coach, she asked them what their sizes were to get them uniforms before the game. Once the boys had their uniforms the coach told them to spend the day in the field practicing. Stevan grabbed his soccer ball and Moxxie and him went to the field and set up the goals. Once they were all ready they started practicing. After they were finished practicing the sun was setting and the boys knew they needed rest for the game but they also knew they needed to buy cleats. So Moxxie and Stevan headed to their local store. Once they had made it they rushed straight to the shoe section, They found their sizes of cleats and went to checkout. After Stevan and Moxxie bought the shoes they parted ways to head home. Stevan had made it home safely and his parents had made dinner while he was gone. He sat at the dinner table with them and ate his food. Once he had finished eating he brushed his teeth and went straight to bed. He layed in his bed feeling weightless as his eyes grew heavy. Before he fell asleep he had set a timer so he could get ready for the game early.

Stevan woke up feeling well rested but then he realized he had slept through his alarm. He started to panic and get dressed for the game. He was gonna be late if he didnt leave soon. Once he had finished getting ready he got in his car and drove to the field for the game. As soon as he arrived he noticed everyone was already there including Moxxie. He sat down on the bench next to Moxxie as they waited for the game to start. Eventually everyone from both teams were there. The other team looked really competitive and strong, it intimidated Moxxie but Stevan thought that they wouldn’t actually do anything to hurt them if they had too to win the game. Moxie thought otherwise he was thinking that if they had to hurt them in any way they would even do it without reason. They all got ready on the field, Moxie looked so scared like a mouse surrounded by a hundred cats. Stevan was confident in their chance of winning almost like a proud courageous lion. They blew the whistle commencing the game. Stevan and Moxxie had no idea what was going on except that they were losing. Their team started making more goals as the game went on. Everything was going their way until the rain started. The field became a slip and slide and it was almost impossible to score for both teams. Moxxie passed the ball to Stevan, Stevan finally got an open shot but right before he was about to kick, He heard someone screaming bloody murder. Stevan quickly turned around to see Moxxie on the ground covered in mud. His knee was on the side of his leg. 

He noticed one of the players from the other team standing over him. He was immediately filled with anger and fury. A whistle was blown to let everyone know to stop the game as if the scream didn’t already. Stevan ran over to Moxxie as he heard an ambulance in the distance. Moxxie was taken to the ER while the player who pushed him was kicked from the team. A few minutes later the game resumed. Stevan was too destressed to think. When his teammate passed to him again just like Moxxie did he had another open shot. People in the bleachers started counting down. Stevan went for the shot. He actually scored this put his team ahead of the other. With barely any time left there’s no way they can win now.After the game ended Stevan didn’t care that they had won he just wanted to go straight to the ER to check on Moxxie.

Stevan got out of his car and walked into the ER. A kind nurse greeted him and led him to Moxxie’s room. Moxie greeted him with a warm smile. “How are you feeling?” Stevan asked. Moxie replied “Not really but they said I should be out of here soon”. An idea popped into Stevans head “How about we head to my place to celebrate the win”? “Sure why not,” Moxxie said. “It’s nice to know you’re okay,” Stevan said. “You too,” Moxxie said with emotion in how voice. Stevan paused for a second but then said “I’m glad we’re friends”. “Me too Stevan me too” Moxie said with a sparkle in his eyes. Stevan asks “best friends forever right”? Moxxie replies quickly “of course forever”.

The Miss Move

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The Miss Move

-By Taylor White

  For playing volleyball for 2 years this is not how I thought my game would end up. I guess I am not as good of a volleyball player as I thought I was. 

First our teachers say we can leave class early to get ready. Then we put on our jerseys on (My jersey is #34). Then we grab our bags and get on the bus. We start to leave the school. The volleyball game is 45 minutes away. I listen to music and I start to hear people talking about me. I know that they are talking about me but I act like I don’t hear. The girls on the bus look like they are playing a game of telephone by how much they are whispering to each other. 

As we are walking into the volleyball game I can hear the crowd start to yell and cheer. After me and my team start to walk on the court we start to get our gear on (knee pads and shoes). Then after that we start to warm up. I can start to tell it is not going to be a good game. The game has finally started. For some reason I am not a starter, which I normally am. I start to get upset and disappointed in myself for not being a starter. 

We are now on the second set and I get to play. I start to miss all of my serves and a lot of digs. All of my sets were double contacts. Coach takes me out and doesn’t say a word. I know that she is disappointed. I start to cry and get upset. My teammates say

  “It is okay, everyone has bad days”.

But I ignore them because I am so mad at myself.

Then my mom comes down the bleachers and asks me if I need a drink. I say no and I can tell she knows I am not okay. I watched the third set and my teammates did great. We get in a huddle and everyone says

 “You guys did great” and

“Nice teamwork”

 When the huddle is over my coach puts me in. I am glad I finally get to play. I am so glad that the coach gave me a second chance. Thank God that she believes in me. We all tell each other to call it and move our feet. The sets and passes from my teammates are great but I keep missing kills. I finally got a good pass and my teammate messed it up. Now I am mad at my teammate because that could’ve been a great point. Even though I make mistakes like that too. Now I keep messing up because of how mad I am. Our coach called a time out. Coach says

“You guys are doing great, just use more communication.”

After that we go back out and high five each other. We get back in the game and we don’t let them get in our heads. Next thing you know we get the ball back. It is my teammates turn to serve. She gets an ace. We all congratulate her and we all start to get hyped up. Our mindset is that nobody can stop us now. We all know that we have to keep going.

After that we started to sweep them off of their feet. We start taking so many points from them. It is going well but all of a sudden something terrible happens. They serve and my teammate goes for the ball and she gets injured. She starts balling and screaming for help. Everyone rushes over to see if she is okay. Our coach calls an ambulance. 2 minutes later they finally arrive and take her to the hospital. 

Everyone is worried about her and our coach is trying to figure out who will take her spot. We finally figure out who is going to play. Then our coach gets a phone call and it is our teammates’ parents. They say she is doing better but then, they told us the worst thing that could ever happen happened. She tore her ACL. After we found that out we prayed for her. 

Then we finally get back on the court and start playing again. I am a little worried but I tell myself I am going to do great. I serve first when we get back on the court and I get an ace. Someone spikes the ball and I get the dig. I am so proud of myself for it. Now it is 23-24 I set my teammate up and BAM!! She gets the spike and we win the game. My team and the crowd were cheering. Everyone was so happy. 

WE WON!!

The Second Chance

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The Second Chance 

By: Bumblebee Homie

“There Elsa goes down the rink in a zigzag motion, ready to score,” the broadcaster said on TV. “It’s only her against the goalie. She hits the puck and in the goal it goes. She scored!” 

My dream is to be on that rink with people watching me from all over the world. I am 14 and live in Churchill, Canada. By the end of this year I hope my dream will come true. 

This week is the big game that could change my life. If we win this game we will then play to be the top team in the country of Canada. The rest of the week I just have practice, but there is one more thing I like to do. I like to meditate. Everyday after practice I go home, sit on my swing, and think about what I want to happen every second of that game. Then I just breathe, getting prepared for the minute I step on that ice.

“Today at practice we will be scrimmaging against other people on our team,” said Coach Bree,“You guys need to hustle. You are as slow as snails.” 

“Coach is being tough on us today,” said my teammate.

“Yeah,” I responded,” but the big game is in two days.”

When I got home I didn’t even do my meditating, that was how tired I was. On top of the scrimmaging, coach Bree made us skate around the rink fifteen times before we could leave because she was saying we were too slow. I really don’t think it was a good idea because we will all be tired and sore before our big game. 

The next day at practice we only did a few warm up things before we meditated  as a whole team. Coach Bree let us out early and told us to all go home and get a lot of rest. I knew the whole team was nervous, the team we were playing was not only good, but physical. 

It was the day of the big game and I was feeling confident. When we got to the rink I could see that I might have been the only one that was confident. When we got on the rink and started warming up, someone from our team skated off the rink and threw up. It didn’t help anyone else on the team feel any better. 

There was one minute until the game started and Coach Bree was talking to us about strategy. 

“Ok everybody, we all know today is going to be tough, and we need to keep our heads in the game,” said Coach Bree,”All we have to do is think of strategy. Just remember your plays and it will be smooth rolling from there.” 

I was ready. All that needed to happen was my team doing their best and shake out any nerves they had. 

“WELCOME everybody to the 2024 Canada’s Best in the Country hockey game! Just a few reminders for everyone, we want to make sure everyone is safe and has good sportsmanship throughout the game,” said the announcer.

My team got on the rink and we all got in position. The ref threw the puck in the air. I played ball from there. 

One of my teammates got hold of the puck first. She went all the way to the goal and missed. Right away, Coach Bree called our first timeout. 

Coach Bree started screaming,“Teamwork, Teamwork, Teamwork, you guys. I don’t just want one of you going solo down the rink one on five. If we want to win we have to work together, ok.”

“Yes, Coach Bree,” said the team in unison.

We got back on the rink. No one liked that  Coach Bree yelled at us, but we didn’t want to let her down. 

I started with the puck, passed it to one of my teammates, they passed it to another one of my teams, and by then I was right next to the goal. My teammate passed it to me. SCORE! The crowd went wild. 

For the rest of the half, it went back and forth between my team and the other. The score was 5 to 6 with the other  team in the lead. 

At the start of the second half the other team started and missed. It was our turn. One of my teammates started and it went to a few other people before it came to me. I was losing my balance as someone was on my tail. It was like a lion chasing a zebra. I quickly passed it to my teammate near the goal and I really didn’t know what happened next. 

In the mix of it, I ran into the wall and the person behind me ran into me. As the other person was walking away she took my helmet with her as it was stuck on her jersey. She pulled me down and accidentally took my helmet off before I hit the ice. In that second I was unconscious. 

The next thing I remembered was being in the hospital bed listening to Dr. Hiemberry and my mother talking. 

“Elsa has a severe concussion and possible brain bleed,” said Dr. Heimberry. ”We will have to go into surgery within the next few hours if that is alright with you.”

“That’s fine Dr. Heimberry, I will do anything to help my daughter,” my mom responded. 

Later that day I went into surgery so they could help prevent the brain bleed. The only thing I could do about the concussion was taking medications to help it heal. The worst part was I damaged my brain a little. It is the part of my brain that helps tell me how to move. There wasn’t much I could do besides work to build that memory of just simply walking. I was told walking shouldn’t be a problem, but getting back out on the ice is a different story. 

Dr. Heimberry helped me day by day recover and I had a few other surgeries for who knows what. I got up and walked around a few steps at a time with support from a walker. Each day a new family member would come visit me, and I really never felt alone. One month later, I was out of the hospital. 

When we got home for the first few days all I could do was lay down. My mom was way too worried about me and to be honest, I could have been out of the hospital a week or two before I was. The only thing holding me back was the thought of my mother. She told me I had to do 30 consecutive steps by myself before we could leave. Even Dr. Hiemberry told me I was free to go by the third week I was there. 

By the end of the week my mom told me I could watch the tape of the big game.

“Hey Elsa, Coach Bree just sent the footage of the game. Would you like to watch it,” asked my mom. 

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to watch it, but I knew I was going to see myself get hurt. I didn’t even really find out the result of that game. Did we win? Did they even finish the game? 

“Sure,” I said, questioning myself, ”I will watch the game. 

Right as I started watching the game, the doorbell rang. My mom told me I should get it, which surprised me since she really hasn’t let me walk for the last week. I paused the video and got up. I used my walker to get to the door knowing I was rusty. When I opened the door I saw my whole team stand there.

“We missed you!” they all said in unison. 

“Mind if we come to watch the game with you?” stated Coach Bree. 

“Yes, Yes, Yes,”I responded,”I would love it if you do.”

The rest of the afternoon we watched the game and hung out. There was one odd moment. It was near the part that I got hurt. While it happened we all grabbed hands and prayed like you do at the dinner table. Then it got even weirder.

“You know we will miss you on the ice,” said someone on my team.

“Yeah,” said everyone else at different times.

It was silent. Did anyone believe I could play hockey again? I did up until that moment. I started to realize that playing hockey again might not be possible for me. I didn’t want it to end that way. 

“Does no one believe I will be able to play hockey again?” I asked.

The room was once again silent.

Coach Bree finally responds,”We all wish you could play hockey again, but your mom told us your doctor said you would barely be able to run for a while let alone skate for the next few years. By then you will probably just give up on hockey.”

“I don’t want to give up on hockey, and I never will,” I said as I ran to my room as fast as I could, which was not really fast at all. 

I spent the rest of the night in my room. I really didn’t want to give up on hockey and I was determined to get back out on the ice. 

For the next three months I walked a little bit more everyday to the point where I was at a jogging pace. My mom was worried I would get hurt, but she believed me. She knew what I wanted to accomplish. 

Once I got up to a slow running pace which was another three months later, I started on the ice. I was basically back on day one. I went from using the walker for a month, to falling left and right, to acting like a really bad figure skater. It wasn’t until about a year after the accident that I got a hockey stick back in my hand. I knew if I wanted to reach this point it was going to take awhile, but it was starting to get hard. 

There were times that I just wanted to quit and times that I just wanted to be able to play hockey again. One week I just couldn’t do it anymore. I spend 80% of my time in my room and the rest in the kitchen or bathroom. Then I finally got my confidence up and got back on the ice once again. 

Once I was back to being a good skater I started my hockey journey. For weeks I practiced on my skills until I was an ok hockey player. I would have kept practicing for weeks, but I found out that they were having a rematch of the game I got hurt in. 

“I have been watching you on the ice lately and I think we can all agree that you are ready to play hockey again,” said Coach Bree. ”So we talked to the team that we played in the Best in the Country game. They agreed to a rematch. It won’t mean anything, but we want you to have your second chance.

“When is the game?” I asked. 

Coach Bree respondes,”It is this Friday, three years from the day it all happened.”

I spent hours preparing for that game. I knew I was never going to be as good as I was, but I was doing pretty good considering what happened. I went to practice with the rest of the team, and did my meditation when I got home. It was finally the day we had all been waiting for.

We got right into the game. I wasn’t starting, but Coach Bree just wanted me to get the way of the land or at least that’s what she said. I really just think my mom told her I couldn’t start. 

It was half way into the first half before I went in. It wasn’t hard for me to get right into the game. I was dominating. I passed it to my teammates left and right. Whenever I passed it to them they scored. It was like I was a good luck charm. By the beginning of the second half the score was 5-6. We were in the lead. 

I didn’t start the second half but I did seem like I needed a break. There were five minutes left in the second half, and the score was tied 7-7. I finally went in. 

It went back and forth between teams and there was thirty seconds left, score 9-9. One of my teammates passed it to me. Everyone was behind me. The only thing that was stopping me was the goalie. I went straight into the right, faked left hit in and … SCORE!!!!!! Right before the clock ran out. We won. 

After the game everyone came to celebrate at my house. 

“We are so proud of you Elsa,” said Coach Bree. ”You probably expected this, but we want you to join us for our around the world tournament. After we won the Best in the Country again, we want you to join us this time because you lost out on your chance.”

“Thank you guys!” I say really loudly,”I am so lucky to have you all.” 

We ended up getting second place in the world tournament and had a great time. By the end of the year I was 18. I ended up going to college at the University of Waterloo in Canada. By my second year I was assistant coach for the Waterloo Warriors men’s team. When I graduated I became a hockey coach for young girls that had or were having trouble getting back on their feet, just like I did.  

Hoop Dreams (1994)

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January 12

This is one of the most recognizable, iconic documentaries of all-time and it was one of the first films I placed on the list of possible docs to watch during this Genre-ary. Hoop Dreams follows two black youths from the inner-city Chicago area on their struggles to get through high school with a dream to make it to the NBA.

The two boys were named Arthur Agee and William Gates, and, one of the things that I liked about Hoop Dreams was it was much more in depth than just basketball. It truly looked at the problems each boy faced as they navigated their way through their specific high sachools.

At first, it seemed as if they would both be going to the same high school, St. Joseph, but after their freshmen year, Arthur was behind on the tuition payment and wound up being removed from the school. William had financial issues too, but he received help from donors of the school. It was implied that William received the aid because he was seen as the stronger basketball player.

The film spent time with family members of both kids too. Arthur’s family provided the most drama as his father left during his high school years and ended up in prison. He was able to return to his family eventually and did appear to have turned a page on his criminal activities.

William went through an injury to his knee during his high school days and it was something that really caused problems for the young man. There were moments of game footage that was tough to watch as he struggled to make it through the injury.

Coach Gene Pingatore was a major character in the documentary, and he was not always portrayed in a positive light. He was that old school basketball coach in the vein of a Bobby Knight (who did cameo in the doc) and watching that today was challenging at times. Pingatore’s final meeting with a senior William was about as awkward as it could possibly be.

Hoop Dreams was a deep dive into the inner city youth whose only hope to escape came with a basketball. Both of the young men involved faced their difficulties with a differing level and reached for what they could. It was a very involved doc.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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December 26

This is the final EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week for 2024 as next Wednesday’s NEW COMIC BOOK DAY is January 1st. And since it was the last week, of course there were about eight books in the contention for these three medals.

Shout outs to the runners-up that did not make the medal round: The Creeping Below #2, Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #3, Hello Darkness #6, Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk #1, and Metamorpho #1.

The final medalists for 2024 are…

Bronze Medalist

X-Men #9

Cover art by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, & Marte Gracia

What a cool use of the Wolverine claws, showing him facing off with Psylocke. The claws almost pop off the page.

Silver Medalist

Absolute Wonder Woman #3

Hayden Sherman & Jordie Bellaire

Boy does Wonder Woman look bad ass. The grey background looks awesome and the red symbol stands out wonderfully.

Gold Medalist

Redcoat #8

Variant Cover B

Cover art by Brad Walker & Brad Anderson

This variant cover is soooo cool with the red background and the way Simon Pure’s coat blended right into the background. Then, the big ass gun is a great example of perspective. I picked this off the stand today, replacing the cover A that I had in my pull box. This is the final gold medalist of 2024. Congrats!

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of 12/18/24

We have a couple of more weeks in 2024, and we have already named the cover of the year and the cover artists of the year. Congrats to Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2 (Variant) and Alex Ross respectively.

That means that this week’s medalists are the old too late for the date. They will just have to settle for medalist presented this week.

Bronze Medalist

Plastic Man No More #4

Cover art by Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo

The Plastic Man series has had some excellent covers. The way he is melting is a very distinct look. The reflection of the timer in his goggles are very intriguing too. Close in to his face is very compelling too.

Silver Medalist

Parliament of Rooks #1

Variant Cover B

Cover Art by Abigail Jill Harding

This new book from Ablaze is a beautiful cover in black and white. Black and white is not used as often in cover art, but this is so wonderful with the creepy birds and some kind of creature behind the man on the stairs. It’s a beauty.

Gold Medalist

House of Slaughter #28

Cover art by Jorge Fornes

Broken glass is a very compelling image and the colors are fabulous. There is just so much to look at on this cover and it does not feel like a typical House of Slaughter book. I noticed this one immediately, and knew it would be this week’s gold medalist.

Year in Review: Favorite Comic Covers of the Year

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2024

In 2024, I started something new. It was a weekly feature in which I would choose the best comic cover of the week on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY. After a few weeks, I adjusted the concept so that I was giving three awards, and I connected them to the Olympic medals (Gold, Silver, Bronze). That way I could honor more of the great covers that was coming out every week.

I reviewed my list of winners and I picked out the best of the best and gave them the year end medal.

I decided I would give out the top three regular covers (Cover A) and I would give the top three variant covers from the gold medalists from this past year. Then, I would give an overall medal (Platinum) for the Best Cover of the Year.

Let’s kick it off with the…

Medalists for the Regular Covers (Cover A)

Bronze Medalist for 2024

Ice Cream Man #38

Cover Art by Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran

Silver Medalist for 2024

Amazing Spider-Man #45

Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Marcio Menyz

Gold Medalist for 2024

Zorro: Man of the Dead #3

Cover art by Dan Panosian

Medalists for Variant Covers of the Year

Bronze Medalist for 2024 Variant

Namor #1

Cover art by Alex Maleev

Silver Medalist for 2024 Variant

Hello Darkness #4

Cover Art by Jenny Frison

Gold Medalist for 2024 Variant

Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2

Cover art by Mitsuhiro Arita

Platinum Medalist (Best Overall Comic Cover of 2024)

Congrats to all of our Medalists.

Runners-Up: (Cover A) Get Fury 34, Swan Song #6, Star Wars: Mace Windu #1, Uncanny X-Men #1, Fantastic Four #26, (Variant) Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver #3, Spider-Boy #7, Resurrection of Magneto #1, Ice Cream Man #39

Creature Commandos

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Spoilers

“The Collywobbles”

“The Tourmaline Necklace”

The DCU is officially underway!

James Gunn’s DCU kicked off with an animated series on MAX based on one of the strangest properties in the DC Comics, The Creature Commandos.

That is a bizarre choice to kick off the DC Studios, aka the DCU. Still, DC animation has always been a strength and perhaps this will play into that well.

These two episodes, which both dropped on MAX were fine. They may not have been as awesome as I thought it could have been, but with a bunch of basically unfamiliar characters, the show was entertaining.

I think my favorite character so far is The Bride, and so I did think more of episode two, which looked at her history and her back story with Frankenstein (voiced by David Harbour). Of course, the backstory does twist the Bride of Frankenstein movie around a bit and it does take some chances with the story.

The feel of this was more like Invincible than it was any of the other DC animated projects. That may be about the blood, violence and sex (this is not a show for the kids). I thought that Invincible became too needy with the blood and went over the top with it. X-Men ’97 had some blood too, but I thought that was a much better use of it than Invincible. I may not have too many people agree with me, but I felt as if the blood in Invincible goes too far. Creature Commandos is not too bad, but feels as if it would be more like Invincible with blood.

Of course, at some point, G.I. Robot must kill some Nazis.

It did have a definite Suicide Squad feel to it, but I do think this has a lot of potential. The episodes were short, but packed quite a bit into them. I think the show has room to grow and I do believe that James Gunn is going to bring the goods.

Battlestar Galactica S3 E8

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Spoilers

“Hero”

Carl Lumbly guest starred in this episode and he brought an old secret for Adama to light. Lumbly, who played Isaiah Bradley in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World, was a soldier that had to do a black ops that turned sour. He was captured by the Cylons after getting shot down past the Armistice Line.

Three years after that, Lumbly, whose character was named Lt. Daniel “Bulldog” Novacek, escaped from the Cylons and was able to return to Adama’s new ship, Galactica.

Honestly, the story of this episode really felt like it came out of left field. The whole Adama did these bad things to “Bulldog” which led to the actual attack of the Cylons on the colonies. While Edward James Olmos is a great performer, this felt very forced to me. This thing just dropped into the story, with Saul Tigh knowing everything too, just did not seem to make a lot of sense. If you have a secret this big, shouldn’t it have been mentioned or hinted at somewhere in a previous episode. This just came out of nowhere and it did not feel right.

It led to the reunion between Adama and Tigh though, which was a nice thing. Lumbly is always great and he does a solid job too.

And then Roslin giving him a medal. Odd.

I am not sure this is going to be referenced ever again. I don’t think that is a bad thing.

Pedro Páramo

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The longest film of the 4F so far will be Pedro Páramo, a new Mexican film dropped on Netflix. It was based on a 1955 novel of the same name by Juan Rulfo.

The film transcended the life span of the man known as Pedro Páramo, though told out of time, jumping between his youth and leading past his death. His son came back to try and find him, only to find a town full of death and loss.

There were plenty of spooky imagery in this movie, shot beautifully by director Rodrigo Prieto.

The story was quite gripping of this vile character Pedro Páramo and the sins of his life that all stemmed from his teenage loss of the woman he loved, Susana.

The movie was a little on the long side and could have shaved off 10-15 minutes to make it a little more tidy, but the nonlinear storytelling did require that there is some length to cover the plot.

The ghost town part of Comala was some of my personal favorite parts of this film. There was so much creepy in the beginning part that I would have liked more time with Juan Preciado (Tenoch Huerta) than we got. He felt to be the most tragic of the characters involved as all he did was promise his mother on her deathbed that he would go find his father, Pedro Páramo.

A very solid adaptation that should be well received across the board.

4 stars

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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Week of 10/21

Big week this week. I literally went through my pile of comics just now and I picked out nine books as potential medalist this week. A great week of covers.

It is one of those weeks where there are no Marvel or DC in the cover medalists. Unbelievably, two of the places are taken up by IDW books. That has got to be a first.

Medalists this week:

Bronze Medalist

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3

Cover art by Rafael Albuquerque

This new Jason Aaron written TMNT series has been epic so far and their covers have been great. What an image with (I’m guessing) Leonardo walking away from his sword with his mask wrapped around it. Absolutely gorgeous cover.

Silver Medalist

The Exorcism at 1600 Penn #1

Variant Cover B

Cover art by Jock

What an amazing variant cover to this series that just came out of nowhere. I love the red and the black mixed with the demon-like creature and the Presidential seal. This Jock variant is extremely hot!

Gold Medalist

Hello Darkness #4

Variant Cover B

Cover art by Jenny Frison

What an amazing cover. We have seen the close up on eyes before, but the skull reflection in the eye and the single tear running from the eye is just astounding. The title of the book down in the lower corner allows the art to dominate the cover. This is breath-taking.

Mr. McMahon E3, E4

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Spoilers

“Screwjob”

“Attitude”

The middle two episodes of the new Vince McMahon docuseries on Netflix are next up and, honestly, they were entertaining, but they felt totally like one of the documentaries that the WWE would produce about their own talent. There was not much more here than what was already covered many times about the Montreal Screwjob and the Attitude Era.

The interviews with present day Vince seemed as if they wanted to show him as reasonable, and I really think this is what the entire docuseries would have been like had real life not taken such a drastic turn on Vince McMahon in recent times.

There were several major incidents that were looked at during these two episodes, such as the Owen Hart death, taking the title off Bret Hart (as well as Wendi Richter a few years earlier), and the end of the steroid trial. None of them provided anything new or deep in an investigation. They were just presented as something that happened.\

They showed the creation of the NWO in WCW, the arrival of Stone Cold Steve Austin (without mentioning the Ringmaster), the heel persona of The Rock, and the ratings war between Raw and Nitro. None of this added anything to the already known narrative.

I sure hope the last two episodes kick it up some because as of now, there is not much meat on the bones of this doc.